turning hid on above water

[H2Andy]

the staff at Ginnie Springs told me when i bought my HID 10watt light
(Dive Rite) to wait at least five minutes before turning it off again.

fwiw

 

[do it easy]

I heard the a few minutes on, a few minutes off rule of thumb too.

I have an OMS 10W phantom that had a sticky switch. I decided to repair it myself (with a little help from my friend beer) and ended up really abusing the lamp. It has the MR10 bulb with the 6 degree lens. I cracked the reflector, so I was pretty sure I was going to replace the bulb, so I used it as the sacrificial goat to test the switch. I was turning it on and off repeatedly as I tested the switch- many cycles without waiting for it to cool down or warm up. Who knows how much life I took out of it in that short time?

Then I did the mental math about how much the bulb costs and how much life it had in it, and I decided to just glue the reflector back on. After the glue cured, I had everything apart and "burn tested" the bulb so make sure the glue could withstand the heat- I wanted an underwater light, not an underwater torch. Long story short, I cracked and repaired the bulb, striked it repeatedly and frequently, and then burned it out of the water (and out of the housing) for over an hour. It seems to be working fine and I finally fixed the switch!

My point is that the MR10s aren't that fragile and have a long life. I think the weak point is building up heat in the housing/test tube and melting the orings.

 

[VinceDS]

I was told, and this is an MR11 10W, that once lit you should let it burn 3-4 minutes before extinguishing. YMMV.

If you look at the instruction manual for the MR11 10w, it states:

"After you turn on the light, give the bulb at least 4 minutes to warm up before turning it off. Failure to do so may damage the bulb. This is not covered under warranty"


As far as firing the light out of the water, my buddies and I routinely turn on our lights when doing our final gear checks on a boat. From the time to firing up the light to entering the water is usually about 4 to 5 minutes, depending on situation. None of us has had any problems with our lights in doing this.

Vince...

 

[Spoon]

this is the reply i got from dwaine of salvo diving,

NO need to store batts in fridge...

30 seconds or until it seems bright enough to turn off. The batteries are smart, the electronics in them determine discharge, charging and short circuit protection.... this is a great advancement in battery technology.

guess i dont have to wait til meltdown before turning off my lights

 

[micbu]

"30 seconds or until it seems bright enough to turn off."

This is absolutely wrong!!!! You should wait AT LEAST 2 minutes, better and also recommended are 4 minutes.


Greetings, Michael
-----------------
www.hid-tec.de

 

[Spoon]

"30 seconds or until it seems bright enough to turn off."

This is absolutely wrong!!!! You should wait AT LEAST 2 minutes, better and also recommended are 4 minutes.


Greetings, Michael
-----------------
www.hid-tec.de

well that came from the horses' mouth. barry gave me the same advice, i beleive they know what they are talking about. the mercedes benz lights also use the brightstar bulbs and they also state to leave em on for 30secs

 

[Meng_Tze]

"30 seconds or until it seems bright enough to turn off."

This is absolutely wrong!!!! You should wait AT LEAST 2 minutes, better and also recommended are 4 minutes.


Greetings, Michael
-----------------
www.hid-tec.de

What do you base this on? Is there some info you can share?

 

[Meng_Tze]

well that came from the horses' mouth. barry gave me the same advice, i beleive they know what they are talking about. the mercedes benz lights also use the brightstar bulbs and they also state to leave em on for 30secs

I dunno what the time is, 30 secs seems short. But it could be correct. I do know that Salvo backs everything with excellent warranty.....bulbs too that were ignited and shut off after 30 secs? Can someone maybe get it from the real horse's mouth: Brightstar, WA etc?

 

[Spoon]

I dunno what the time is, 30 secs seems short. But it could be correct. I do know that Salvo backs everything with excellent warranty.....bulbs too that were ignited and shut off after 30 secs? Can someone maybe get it from the real horse's mouth: Brightstar, WA etc?

will email my contact in brightsar, il get back soon

 

[micbu]

Hi guys,

I have very deep knowledges about HID systems, also I do distribute them and I do a lot of researches (that is my job). I will give you two examples of testing HID bulbs in our lab. The light will have arrived at the maximum light output after about 2.5minutes. After 30 seconds you will have about 94% of its maximum possible light output.


Following tests have been performed in our lab:

a 10W Brightstar bulb has been switched on;
the system stayed switched on for 10 minutes
then it was turned off
after 5 minutes it was switched back on again


This test was done automatically until the bulbs broke.
The first bulb broke after 482 cycles
The second broke after 521 cycles
The third one after 535 cycles
The fourth one after 557 cycles
The fith one after 605 cycles

The second test series was done by

switching the system on
the system stayed switched on for 1 minute
then it was turned off
after 5 minutes it was switched back on again

The first bulb broke after 309 cycles switching on.
The second broke after 312 cycles
The third one after 389 cycles
The fourth one after 395 cycles
The fith one sfter 430 cycles


I really did a lot of researches because I want to know about what I am talking and what I am selling. I did this testing with Welch Allyn bulbs and with Brightstar bulbs. The BS bulbs are much more robust (especially the 21 and 24W bulbs) , but that was just one reason why I decided to distribute BS and not WA. I have done a lot of researches with 21W, 24W 35W and 50W systems. If there are some people interrested in the results then I will publish them. Brightstar also suggests not to switch the light back off until 4 minutes have passed.


Greetings, Michael

-----------------
www.hid-tec.de